Nanostructured mesoporous gold biosensor for microRNA detection at attomolar level

Mostafa Kamal Masud; Jongbeom Na; Tzu-En Lin; Victor Malgras; Anant Preet; Abu Ali Ibn Sina; Kathleen Wood; Mutasim Billah; Jeonghun Kim; Jungmok You; Kenya Kani; Andrew E Whitten; Carlos Salomon; Nam-Trung Nguyen; Muhammad J A Shiddiky; Matt Trau; Md Shahriar A Hossain; Yusuke Yamauchi

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2020.112429

Nanostructured mesoporous gold biosensor for microRNA detection at attomolar level

Biosens Bioelectron. 2020 Nov 15:168:112429. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2020.112429. Epub 2020 Aug 1.

Authors

Mostafa Kamal Masud¹, Jongbeom Na², Tzu-En Lin³, Victor Malgras⁴, Anant Preet³, Abu Ali Ibn Sina², Kathleen Wood⁵, Mutasim Billah², Jeonghun Kim⁶, Jungmok You⁷, Kenya Kani², Andrew E Whitten⁵, Carlos Salomon⁸, Nam-Trung Nguyen⁹, Muhammad J A Shiddiky¹⁰, Matt Trau², Md Shahriar A Hossain¹¹, Yusuke Yamauchi¹²

Affiliations

¹ Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Life Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, 3114, Bangladesh.
² Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.
³ Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, 30010, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
⁴ International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA) and International Center for Young Scientists (ICYS), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, 305-0044, Japan.
⁵ Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), New Illawarra Rd, Lucas Heights, NSW, 2234, Australia.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02707, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Department of Plant and Environmental New Resources, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu Yongin-si Gyeonggi-do, 17104, South Korea.
⁸ Exosome Biology Laboratory, Centre for Clinical Diagnostics, University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
⁹ School of Environment and Natural Sciences and Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, QLD, 4111, Australia.
¹⁰ School of Environment and Natural Sciences and Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, QLD, 4111, Australia. Electronic address: m.shiddiky@griffith.edu.au.
¹¹ Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia. Electronic address: md.hossain@uq.edu.au.
¹² Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; Department of Plant and Environmental New Resources, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu Yongin-si Gyeonggi-do, 17104, South Korea; School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia. Electronic address: y.yamauchi@uq.edu.au.

PMID: 32942183
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2020.112429

Abstract

Advances in nanoarchitectonics enable a wide variety of nanostructured electrodes with tunable shapes and surface for constructing sensitive biosensors. Herein we demonstrate the fabrication of a mesoporous gold (Au) biosensor for the specific and sensitive detection of miRNA in a relatively simple and portable manner. The electrocatalytic activity of the mesoporous Au electrode (MPGE) towards the redox reaction of Fe(CN)₆]^3-/4- expansively examined. Leveraging the electrocatalytic activity and signal enhancement capacity of the MPGE, an ultrasensitive and specific electrochemical sensor was developed for the detection of microRNA (miRNA). The target miRNA from spiked samples is selectively isolated and purified using magnetic bead-capture probe followed by the direct adsorption on the MPGE through direct affinity interaction between miRNA and mesoporous Au surface. The MPGE-bound miRNA is then quantified by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) using [Fe(CN)₆]^4-/3- redox system (Faradaic current decrease with reference to the bare MPGE). This method evades the cumbersome PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and enzymatic amplification steps. This is a single-step assay building which can detect a wide dynamic linear range (100 aM to 1 nM) of miRNA with an ultra-low limit detection of 100 aM and present high translational potentiality for the development of high-performance detection tools for clinics.

Keywords: Biosensor; Electrocatalytic activity; Electrochemical detection; Mesoporous gold electrode; Nanoarchitectonics; microRNA.

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques*
Electrochemical Techniques
Electrodes
Gold
Limit of Detection
MicroRNAs*
Nanostructures*

Substances

MicroRNAs
Gold